Golden Lions pull out 49-46 win in SMAC finals

The South Mountain Athletic Conference championship showdown between Shelby and East Rutherford was everything the overflow crowd at Lloyd Little Gymnasium expected Friday night.

The Golden Lions’ 49-46 victory for the tournament title could aptly be called ‘winning ugly.’ The two familiar rivals engaged in the kind of defensive struggle that produced turnovers, low field-goal percentages and enough swings of emotion to exhaust. Shelby (23-3) survived despite making only 11 of 26 free-throw chances.

“It’s a war every time,” said Shelby coach Aubrey Hollifield of the series with East, which includes seven meetings the past two seasons with a possible hookup in the state playoffs to come. “It’s Shelby and East. You know what you’re going to get.”

This time East (20-6) charged out to a 20-6 first-quarter lead and except for one possession in the third quarter, led until Shelby went ahead for good with 1:20 to play on a Spencer Clark layup.

“We’ve been through this so many times,” said Lions senior forward Donte Falls, who led his team with 15 points, including a layin with 7.4 seconds remaining for a three-point edge. “We’re like brothers, we’ve all known each other so long.

“When we were down by six (24-18) at halftime, I felt like we had them right where we wanted. We just had to come out, play hard and attack. I didn’t feel bad at all.”

East’s defensive strategy in the first half was to run a second defender at Shelby point guard Gabe DeVoe and force him to give up the basketball. It stymied the Lions, especially with Chris Wray out of the lineup with early foul trouble.

“We worked on that, and I wanted whoever’s man was on the double team to go to the foul line and then attack,” said Hollifield. “I even burnt an early timeout to point that out. But these aren’t college kids, they’re 16- and 17-year-olds, and sometimes even if you tell them, they just don’t get it.”

In the second half, with Wray on the floor, Shelby began to execute.

“I think the very first time, Cedric Cannon went to the foul line, got it and went in and scored,” said Hollifield. “So we started handling it better.”

Defense though carried Shelby through the early East surge, and its own foul-shooting troubles. In fact, a blocked shot by Falls and another play when Cannon forced a jump ball that gave possession to the Lions proved pivotal in the final minute.

“I really thought we played good defense after the first quarter,” said Hollifield. “But our whole goal was to attack the basket.”

Besides Falls, Shelby also got double-digit production from DeVoe with 11 points and Clark with 10. T.J. Watkins had 12 for the Cavaliers with Jarvis Hopper adding 10.

Page 2 of 2 - The two teams will learn their 2A playoff path today when the NCHSAA announces its pairings.

Girls

Freedom 48, East Rutherford 39 — The top-seeded Freedom girls (22-3) trailed 16-15 at halftime but took control in the second half to triumph.

The Patriots got 18 points from Imani Williams. East (17-8) was led by 23 points from Rachel Camp.